Former McCain adviser finds that individual health insurance market he once touted isn't so great...

[marmar]

from thinkprogress:



Former McCain adviser nervous about moving into the individual health insurance market he once touted.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior policy adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign, “remains unemployed — and his COBRA health coverage is running out,” the Washington Post reports. “Irony of ironies, it gets worse. Holtz-Eakin, who is about to start shopping for insurance on the individual market, is 51. And he has one of those pesky ‘preexisting conditions’ that insurance companies often cite in denying coverage”:

Holtz-Eakin said he’s been paying about $1,000 a month to extend the private health insurance he received on McCain’s campaign through the government’s COBRA program, but that will expire in a few months. This is the first time in his life he has not had employer-provided health coverage. “I worry about where I go next in the way many Americans do,” he said.

During the campaign, Holtiz-Eakin fervently defended McCain’s proposal to shift more Americans out of their employer-sponsored coverage and into the individual health insurance market. “The key to real reform is to restore control over our health-care system to the patients themselves,” Holtz-Eakin said in August. “Instead of only getting it in the employer market, you would get it regardless of your source of insurance. And you get the same amount whether you’re rich or poor, $5,000 for every working family.”


http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/02/dhe-individual-market/

[Captain Hilts]

1. I just read this in the WP. He's 51 with a pre-existing. Good luck, pal!

[still_one]

4. and I would be in an exact situation if I lose my job. That is why I will take it very personally

if the Democrats don't get this right.

[Captain Hilts]

5. I'm 50 and unemployed and ins. cos. will not sell me insurance. nt

[still_one]

11. I sure understand what you are going through. Some people do not understand that

that they won't cover you at any price, or put a rider which exempts certain conditions

i.e. hypertension, they won't cover any heart or circulatory issues, etc.

[Captain Hilts]

13. I qualified for the "good health discount" and could afford to pay, but when they found out

I was unemployed, they said I was only eligible to purchase short-term/six month insurance that I had to reapply for every six months.

It was too much to pay for sprained ankle insurance.

I've since discovered that single 'entrepreneurs' such as accountants, etc. are more often than not, also without health insurance. One told me it would cost her as much as her rent every month.

It's a racket.

[still_one]

15. It sure is a racket, and there are a lot of people affected, which is why we need healthcare

reform with a public option

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

2. He better hope HCR passes as it extends COBRA coverage.

Maybe he can write his buddy McCain to vote yes, ha ha ha ha!

I keep saying that Republicans suffer as much as Democrats under the current system. They are not all idiot Tea Baggers.

[Ian David]

18. Are you kidding? Some rich, Republican asshole will give him a job to shut him up.

Probably by the end of tomorrow.

[Javaman]

3. I'm always so amused by repukes when the get a dose of reality.

my heart bleeds for the fucking bastards.

The only upside is; when the get that injection of reality, they usually become Dems. :)

It's like they set themselves up for failure, but then again, they are repukes, so it's a given.

[malaise]

16. +1000 n/t

[CTyankee]

19. I like to see the karma at work on these guys.

Better late than never, I guess. The more we get over to our side, the better. If they have to suffer along with way (and I do not wish suffering on anybody and certainly not their families), then it is in the great Lesson Plan of the universe and who am I to quibble with that?

[Missy Vixen]

6. Mr. Holtz-Eakin, you should be nervous

You're about to get a karma slap you won't forget. You actively campaigned against Americans who tried to get insurance and couldn't? Welcome to our reality.

Thanks for helping the rest of us out. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. Welcome to the real world. Best of luck!

K&R

[HughMoran]

8. Welcome to the REAL world!

Red pill or blue?

[Jennicut]

9. Karma can really bite you in the ass.

A great lesson to learn.

[sui generis]

10. exactly the wrong direction - getting the employer MORE involved.

doctors can't hire temps to work in medical records because they have to be HIPAA certified to open a real medical record, and yet your employer can see everything in your record without physically "accessing" the record, as part of their claims report, and not be in violation of HIPAA.

This should only ever have been a competitive income tax with an opt-out if you already have insurance. That would guarantee that nobody has a different "premium" than anyone else. It would also make the idea of a "fine" much more appropriate - if you're working and not carrying insurance AND not paying your P.O. tax, then you deserve to get the services rendered to you counted as 1098 income, or the burden of your unpaid tax and fine, whichever is more.

Bingo, everyone covered, everyone has access to healthcare, the employer is not involved unless it's YOUR choice.

But then we got the politicians involved. . . .

[area51]

12. Karma ...

... it's not just for breakfast anymore. Too many members of the nazi party don't see the need to fix our broken healthcare system until it literally bites them in the ass.

[nightrain]

14. not so fun huh, Holtz-Eakin? But then again, you probably were paid a bunch...

[Ian David]

17. Libertarian Legacy? Ron Paul's Campaign Manager Dies Uninsured, Leaving family $400K in debt

Libertarian Legacy? Ron Paul's Campaign Manager, 49, Dies Uninsured, Of Pneumonia, Leaving family $400,000 Debt
By Rob Kall
opednews.com
July 5, 2008 at 22:24:40

What a testament to the Libertarian creed, which abhors the idea of universal health care. This loyal, passionate man, who died too young, left his family a debt of $400,000 in medical bills. Who knows whether he put off getting treatment for the pneumonia that killed him because he was uninsured.

Kent Snyder did some amazing work on the Ron Paul Campaign and is remembered as a "libertarian giant"- by Lew Rockwell, on the libertarian site, Lew Rockwell.com.

The Wall Street journal reports that Kent, more than anyone else, persuaded Ron Paul to run for president. And Kent, according the the WSJ, developed what "ultimately became a $35 million operation with 250 employees that helped deliver more than one million votes for the Texas congressman's bid in the Republican nominating contest."-

<snip>

Sadly, the Libertarian heart apparently does not include health care. The poor guy raised tens of millions of dollars and couldn't afford the $300-$600 a month that COBRA medical insurance would have cost.

More:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Libertarian-Legacy--Ron-Pa-by-Rob-Kall-080705-175.html

[Ian David]

20. See also: Political pundit Ed Rollins pummeled by debt

Political pundit Ed Rollins pummeled by debt
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4129175

[nilram]

22. delightful. but he'll probably get some crony job that'll bail him out of it.

here's hoping not, though.

[wilt the stilt]

21. having boughrt my own insurance

for a number of years let me be the first to say "suck on it".